Greenville Newspaper Articles

[apaladin]

For those of you who care to read the Greenville News.
www.greenvilleonline.com
FWIW Fun fact: There are nearly half as many people living in Greenville County(400,000+) as there are in the entire state of Montana(900,000+).
Yet we have similar attendance figures!

[SonomaCat]

To take that same thought on step further, we have a couple teams in our conference that have far more people in their metro area than the entire state of Montana, and they have far, far lower attendance than MSU (or UM). Sacramento State and Portland State leap to mind.

[tampa_griz]

Football fans in Georgia, Oregon, or California probably have too many bigger teams in bigger leagues (I-A, NFL) to follow FCS. That's what makes FCS so much fun up here and IMO gives us an edge with fan support. Just my .02.

[SCPaladin]

For those of you who care to read the Greenville News.
www.greenvilleonline.com
FWIW Fun fact: There are nearly half as many people living in Greenville County(400,000+) as there are in the entire state of Montana(900,000+).
Yet we have similar attendance figures!

Not really a fair comparison when you have Clemson ~25 miles away...not to mention 2 other IAA programs within 45 miles in Wofford & Presbyterian College (PC is movin on up). Its tough to draw the 'casual' fan when there is a Clemson game down the street and a USC Gamecock game 1 1/2 hours away...not an excuse just reality. Furman has 2500 students. Kind of a small alumni base.

Oh yeah UGA in Athens, Ga. is only about 1 1/2 hours away too...we're surrounded

[apaladin]

For those of you who care to read the Greenville News.
www.greenvilleonline.com
FWIW Fun fact: There are nearly half as many people living in Greenville County(400,000+) as there are in the entire state of Montana(900,000+).
Yet we have similar attendance figures!

Not really a fair comparison when you have Clemson ~25 miles away...not to mention 2 other IAA programs within 45 miles in Wofford & Presbyterian College (PC is movin on up). Its tough to draw the 'casual' fan when there is a Clemson game down the street and a USC Gamecock game 1 1/2 hours away...not an excuse just reality. Furman has 2500 students. Kind of a small alumni base.

Oh yeah UGA in Athens, Ga. is only about 1 1/2 hours away too...we're surrounded

I agree with the Clemson, SC, and UGA having an effect but WC and PC have no effect whatsoever on FU attendance.

[SCPaladin]

I agree with the Clemson, SC, and UGA having an effect but WC and PC have no effect whatsoever on FU attendance.

Um...ok, thank you for your input. You sound pretty confident. I'm assuming your definition of "effect" is different then mine. I've met Wofford and PC people at Furman games and I've been to a few of their games as well. The fact that there are so many schools within a 100 mile radius from Greenville that play football does have a profound effect on our attendence. We have VERY FEW casual fans. When there are a lot of schools to choose from it can be difficult to get the local community involved in the game. The Greenville News puts us third (or worse) every week. We are a relatively small fish in a big pond. As opposed to MSU...you're one of the only shows in town. I'll bet Bozeman is going nuts...I'll bet 80% of Greenville doesn't even know we're in the playoffs.....again (7 of 8 years).

[BelgradeBobcat]

I agree with the Clemson, SC, and UGA having an effect but WC and PC have no effect whatsoever on FU attendance.

Um...ok, thank you for your input. You sound pretty confident. I'm assuming your definition of "effect" is different then mine. I've met Wofford and PC people at Furman games and I've been to a few of their games as well. The fact that there are so many schools within a 100 mile radius from Greenville that play football does have a profound effect on our attendence. We have VERY FEW casual fans. When there are a lot of schools to choose from it can be difficult to get the local community involved in the game. The Greenville News puts us third (or worse) every week. We are a relatively small fish in a big pond. As opposed to MSU...you're one of the only shows in town. I'll bet Bozeman is going nuts...I'll bet 80% of Greenville doesn't even know we're in the playoffs.....again (7 of 8 years).

I'm pretty impressed with what you have at Furman. How does a private school of less than 3000 get 12-13K to your games-especially with Clemson next door. You must have a lot of people in the area that have adopted Furman despite never attending school there?

BTW-Clemson, South Carolina is less than half the size of Bozeman. When 80K come to town for a football game, where do they park?

[gofurman]

I agree with the Clemson, SC, and UGA having an effect but WC and PC have no effect whatsoever on FU attendance.

Um...ok, thank you for your input. You sound pretty confident. I'm assuming your definition of "effect" is different then mine. I've met Wofford and PC people at Furman games and I've been to a few of their games as well. The fact that there are so many schools within a 100 mile radius from Greenville that play football does have a profound effect on our attendence. We have VERY FEW casual fans. When there are a lot of schools to choose from it can be difficult to get the local community involved in the game. The Greenville News puts us third (or worse) every week. We are a relatively small fish in a big pond. As opposed to MSU...you're one of the only shows in town. I'll bet Bozeman is going nuts...I'll bet 80% of Greenville doesn't even know we're in the playoffs.....again (7 of 8 years).

I'm pretty impressed with what you have at Furman. How does a private school of less than 3000 get 12-13K to your games-especially with Clemson next door. You must have a lot of people in the area that have adopted Furman despite never attending school there?

BTW-Clemson, South Carolina is less than half the size of Bozeman. When 80K come to town for a football game, where do they park?

Not to sound arrogant but football in the south is generally - note I said generally - different than football elsewhere. That is how Clemson, a school of 13K undergrads (about the same as MSU?) gets 80K to football. Another case in point - South Carolina was 1-8 one year and sold 75K tickets the next game against navy(?). Ask anyone who has been to SEC football games. I have a friend who came here from New Yawk and he was amazed. He said - 'football is important in the north, in the south it is indeed a freakin' religion'. Pro sports are much more important elsewhere - most in the south could give diddly about pro teams. Now an exception it appears - and a proud one for FCS - is the state of Montana. MSU and Montana certainly get good attendance, support, etc as the flagship schools of Montana. One last example - note some schools in the NE like UNH (I think they were the one I noticed). Number one ranked in 1aa most of the year and attendance of about 5/6K? About half what we draw and I bet UNH is at least 3to4 times the size of 2500 student Furman.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Isn't Clemson the Land Grant school for South Carolina? If so, MSU has many similarities (except the 80K football stadium).

I have had the pleasure of attending a couple of Auburn games a few years ago, including Florida vs Auburn. It was awesome. I know in the South football isn't a matter of life and death...it's much more important than that.

[1BadBobcat]

I agree with the Clemson, SC, and UGA having an effect but WC and PC have no effect whatsoever on FU attendance.

Um...ok, thank you for your input. You sound pretty confident. I'm assuming your definition of "effect" is different then mine. I've met Wofford and PC people at Furman games and I've been to a few of their games as well. The fact that there are so many schools within a 100 mile radius from Greenville that play football does have a profound effect on our attendence. We have VERY FEW casual fans. When there are a lot of schools to choose from it can be difficult to get the local community involved in the game. The Greenville News puts us third (or worse) every week. We are a relatively small fish in a big pond. As opposed to MSU...you're one of the only shows in town. I'll bet Bozeman is going nuts...I'll bet 80% of Greenville doesn't even know we're in the playoffs.....again (7 of 8 years).

I'm pretty impressed with what you have at Furman. How does a private school of less than 3000 get 12-13K to your games-especially with Clemson next door. You must have a lot of people in the area that have adopted Furman despite never attending school there?

BTW-Clemson, South Carolina is less than half the size of Bozeman. When 80K come to town for a football game, where do they park?

Not to sound arrogant but football in the south is generally - note I said generally - different than football elsewhere. That is how Clemson, a school of 13K undergrads (about the same as MSU?) gets 80K to football. Another case in point - South Carolina was 1-8 one year and sold 75K tickets the next game against navy(?). Ask anyone who has been to SEC football games. I have a friend who came here from New Yawk and he was amazed. He said - 'football is important in the north, in the south it is indeed a freakin' religion'. Pro sports are much more important elsewhere - most in the south could give diddly about pro teams. Now an exception it appears - and a proud one for FCS - is the state of Montana. MSU and Montana certainly get good attendance, support, etc as the flagship schools of Montana. One last example - note some schools in the NE like UNH (I think they were the one I noticed). Number one ranked in 1aa most of the year and attendance of about 5/6K? About half what we draw and I bet UNH is at least 3to4 times the size of 2500 student Furman.

Despite our small population, most of Montana is football-nuts. In fact, besides Montana State and Montana hosting 1-AA playoff games, Carroll College in Helena (capitol city) is hosting the second round of the NAIA football playoffs. They have won the national title the last four years in a row, and have a pretty good shot at winning it again for a fifth consecutive time! Carroll is a private Catholic college with an enrollment of about 4-5,000 and they have been drawing roughly 6,500 fans a game. If all three of these universities sell their games out this Saturday, close to 50,000 Montanans will be at a football game (in state where the population is only 900,000)!

[CatfaninGA]

I'm pretty impressed with what you have at Furman. How does a private school of less than 3000 get 12-13K to your games-especially with Clemson next door. You must have a lot of people in the area that have adopted Furman despite never attending school there?

BTW-Clemson, South Carolina is less than half the size of Bozeman. When 80K come to town for a football game, where do they park?[/quote]


Clemson has plenty of places to park on gamedays. The students must move their cars out of many lots to allow for "reserved" parking. There are also many "area lots" where people park on the grass, tailgating begins early and ends late it's quite an event.


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[Paladinfan]

Furman's been playing football 101 years and is the oldest football team in South Carolina and the SoCon. They've built up a little following over the years.

[SCarolina_Cat]

I have seen both football in Montana and football in the south and there is no comparision. I grew up in Bozeman and was there in 76 and 84 when they won the Title. I have moved to the Upstate of South Carolina outside of both Greenville and Clemson. Gameday in the south and at Clemson compares to nothing. Just ask the ESPN gameday crew, they saw it first hand... This weekend there will be over 100,000 people to watch the game in a town about the size of Belgrade.....

[bobcatmaniac]

Here is why they get so many fans...Population of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota combined = 3,992,000. (Montana and the surrounding four states).
Population of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama = 31,000,000. (Reference Google Search of population of the states)
Almost ten times as many people live in states that are close by Furman.
I chose Alabama because it may not be closer to South Carolina, but it has fewer people. Don't ask why. Florida is also in the vicinity but has four times the population of Alabama. (This is not scientific research)
Face it, we are the Wide Open Spaces, not many people here, but have great representation in the playoffs and get quality players.
We have also been playing football for a long time. I believe it was the 105 Bobcat/griz rival game, am I correct?

[STREETCAT]

Here is why they get so many fans...Population of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota combined = 3,992,000. (Montana and the surrounding four states).
Population of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama = 31,000,000. (Reference Google Search of population of the states)
Almost ten times as many people live in states that are close by Furman.
I chose Alabama because it may not be closer to South Carolina, but it has fewer people. Don't ask why. Florida is also in the vicinity but has four times the population of Alabama. (This is not scientific research)
Face it, we are the Wide Open Spaces, not many people here, but have great representation in the playoffs and get quality players.
We have also been playing football for a long time. I believe it was the 105 Bobcat/griz rival game, am I correct?

106

[BelgradeBobcat]

I have seen both football in Montana and football in the south and there is no comparision. I grew up in Bozeman and was there in 76 and 84 when they won the Title. I have moved to the Upstate of South Carolina outside of both Greenville and Clemson. Gameday in the south and at Clemson compares to nothing. Just ask the ESPN gameday crew, they saw it first hand... This weekend there will be over 100,000 people to watch the game in a town about the size of Belgrade.....

I will agree with you. I heard it said (don't know if it's true) that the griz fans really started to figure out the whole gameday thing after a playoff trip to Georgia Southern and seeing how they do it down there. We all know they do a pretty good job in Missoula now.

MSU's gameday has improved by leaps and bounds since Kramer has got here. I remember in the early 90's we decided to tailgate. There was us and about 5 other vehicles in the east parking lot until about 10 minutes before kickoff. Nowadays the tailgate parties are everywhere, and motorhomes start arriving Friday night.

One thing special about Bobcat football...due to our geography and sparse population in the west, people will start driving Friday night or in the wee hours of Saturday morning to drive to Bozeman. They will be driving distances that would be 2 states away if it were in the South.

[bobcatmaniac]

Here is why they get so many fans...Population of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota combined = 3,992,000. (Montana and the surrounding four states).
Population of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama = 31,000,000. (Reference Google Search of population of the states)
Almost ten times as many people live in states that are close by Furman.
I chose Alabama because it may not be closer to South Carolina, but it has fewer people. Don't ask why. Florida is also in the vicinity but has four times the population of Alabama. (This is not scientific research)
Face it, we are the Wide Open Spaces, not many people here, but have great representation in the playoffs and get quality players.
We have also been playing football for a long time. I believe it was the 105 Bobcat/griz rival game, am I correct?

106

Thanks, I knew I was close